Artistically and technically, the multi-Grammy-winning cellist is beyond reproach. But that can be said of many of the ensembles and soloists that parade across the stages of summer music festivals across the state. What sets Ma worlds apart is his personal warmth and the engaging, egoless humanity that pervades his musicmaking.

Kicking off the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival on Friday, Ma and his longtime collaborator Kathryn Stott delivered brilliant, inspired performances of works that reflected the rich variety of the piano-cello repertoire.

Playing to a capacity crowd, and transcending the occasional swoosh of traffic and other unfortunate distractions in the background, Ma and pianist Stott sailed through a trio of seemingly unrelated pieces sans pause. Yet their spirited interpretation of Ennio Morricone, George Gersh win and Cesar Camargo Mariano accentuated and interwove each composer’s penchant for rhythm and lyricism into a fluid whole.

The duo was especially creative in Mariano’s “Cristal,” infusing the Brazilian composer’s seductive musical language with fervor, flourish and a great deal of fun.

The one-night-only recital, a melange of old and new works, continued with Johannes Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in E Minor. Here, Stott and Ma lay bare a profound musical connection forged over nearly three decades of playing together.

As naturally as breathing, they read each other’s every nuance and anticipated each other’s slightest inflections, thereby accelerating the excitement and intensity of the sonata’s imitative finale.

And while Fitkin Graham’s “L” — commissioned by Stott for Ma’s 50th birthday four years ago — was replete with tough and tender moments, the virtuosos saved the best for last: an eloquent, impassioned performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s rhapsodic Sonata in G minor.

This morning — joining students of Celebrate the Beat, First Notes and Bravo! Young Composers to celebrate arts education in Eagle County — Ma will again perform “The Swan” with pianist Katherine Bellino, a freshman at Evergreen High School.

“Judas,” a new novel by Amos Oz, is a paradox of stillness and provocation. The Israeli author, a long-rumored contender for the Nobel Prize, has reduced the physical action of this story to a tableau of domestic grief.